1. Field of the Invention
Embodiments of the systems and methods described herein relate to a system for querying data by iteratively grouping and narrowing query results.
2. Description of the Related Art
Query systems are commonly used to find particular data stored in one or more data repositories. In conventional query systems, a user enters a query that specifies search criteria defining data that the user seeks. The system performs a search and returns data that matches the search criteria.
Methods of entering search criteria differ depending on the type of information stored in a data repository. For example, in a database with discrete information fields, such as an electronic card catalog system, a user may enter criteria specifying the value of certain fields, such as author name, title, subject, year published, and the like, to retrieve data regarding books in a library's collection. In a data repository with more extensive textual information, such as, for example, a full-text index to web sites on the World Wide Web, it is common to allow the user to enter specific words and, optionally, Boolean operators. A full-text query system typically returns each record (or link to a web site) that includes the specific words entered by the user, as modified by the Boolean operators.
Many query systems allow a user to specify very specific search criteria to try to find the precise data that the user seeks. Nevertheless, users often have difficulty focusing their search criteria, and query systems often return, in addition to relevant data, a large amount of irrelevant or only slightly relevant data. Large data repositories with diverse data sets compound this problem. In addition, conventional query systems have not provided users enough flexibility to broaden, refine, or narrow their search criteria in order to focus on the most useful or interesting data.